Practicing self-care in your daily life doesn’t have to be tedious, or even expensive. In many cases, it can actually be free or almost free.
Christine says: To spend more time in the day taking care of yourself, you “should focus on moving from the negative self-talk hamster wheel that we keep running through our mind, to an experience feel more”. Karper, chair of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of Phoenix.
“This is part of what’s called mindfulness.”
Karper recommends practicing mindfulness by simply tapping into your five senses before emptying the bag. Here are a few ways you can do that.
10 self-care actions that cost little or no money
- Light a candle with your favorite scent
- Burn aromatic essential oils in a diffuser
- Warm a damp towel with a tea bag inside and place it around your hand, to mimic the Oshibori towel experience
- Rub a smooth stone or rose petal to appreciate their texture
- Listen to soothing music
- Sitting outside looking at the clouds or listening to birds singing
- Eat slowly to enjoy the taste
- Make a gratitude visit: write about someone who has made a positive impact on your life and visit or call to have them read to them
- Recall a favorite memory and think about what you felt, saw, smelled, and enjoyed in that moment.
- Looking at old photos takes you back to the good times
‘It could be a two-minute break’
Unmanaged stress can lead to negative long-term consequences, including diabetes and high blood pressure, says Karper.
However, consistent self-care can induce healing hormones like serotonin and shift our minds from a state that triggers the stress response to a default state of relaxation, she adds.
And the length of your self-care activity isn’t as important as doing it, Karper notes. “It doesn’t have to take long,” she said.
“It could be a two-minute break, two or three times a day. [That] is enough to have a statistically significant impact on your overall health.”
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